JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of straying onto its territory near oil and gas fields in the Gulf and warned it was looking at how to respond, the Saudi ambassador to the United Nations said.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Saudi authorities said Iranian helicopters flew several times over a gas field at Hasba, Abdullah al-Mualimi was quoted as saying in the daily newspaper Okaz on Monday.

Once Jews go down the liberal path, we typically never find our way back. David Mamet, the brilliant writer, spent much of his life a plain vanilla Jewish liberal. But, as only a relatively few Americans Jews have, he was blessed with the intellectual fortitude to reexamine his views and draw the rational conclusions. Here, in A note to a stiff-necked people, Mr. Mamet asks the Jewish community to stop and contemplate some crucial questions before we go out and vote on Tuesday.

This was no ordinary rubber chicken affair. That was my reaction to the extraordinary keynoter at Tuesday’s Better Government Association annual luncheon.

Lara Logan, a correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes,” delivered a provocative speech to about 1,100 influentials from government, politics, media, and the legal and corporate arenas. Such downtown gatherings are a regular on Chicago’s networking circuit. (I am a member of the BGA’s Civic Leadership Committee, and the Chicago Sun-Times was a sponsor).

Her ominous and frightening message was gleaned from years of covering our wars in the Middle East. She arrived in Chicago on the heels of her Sept. 30 report, “The Longest War.” It examined the Afghanistan conflict and exposed the perils that still confront America, 11 years after 9/11.

Eleven years later, “they” still hate us, now more than ever, Logan told the crowd. The Taliban and al-Qaida have not been vanquished, she added. They’re coming back.

“I chose this subject because, one, I can’t stand, that there is a major lie being propagated . . .” Logan declared in her native South African accent.

The lie is that America’s military might has tamed the Taliban.

“There is this narrative coming out of Washington for the last two years,” Logan said. It is driven in part by “Taliban apologists,” who claim “they are just the poor moderate, gentler, kinder Taliban,” she added sarcastically. “It’s such nonsense!”

Logan stepped way out of the “objective,” journalistic role. The audience was riveted as she told of plowing through reams of documents, and interviewing John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and a Taliban commander trained by al-Qaida. The Taliban and al-Qaida are teaming up and recruiting new terrorists to do us deadly harm, she reports.

She made a passionate case that our government is downplaying the strength of our enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a rationale of getting us out of the longest war. We have been lulled into believing that the perils are in the past: “You’re not listening to what the people who are fighting you say about this fight. In your arrogance, you think you write the script.”

Our enemies are writing the story, she suggests, and there’s no happy ending for us…

Memo to Bibi: Time to clam up and go about the Jewish peoples’ business: Come to grips with the world as it is, not what you wish it were, and fire up those F-16s before Obama is re-elected and completely boxes you in.

Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the mayor of Tehran and a former police chief, is a likely successor to Iran’s genocide-inciting, homophobic, election-fraud beneficiary. Writing for The Times of Israel after several recent visits to Tehran, Sabina Amidi reports on fears that Ghalibaf’s ascent would signal a turn toward a more militaristic government

Former U.S. defense secretary tells Fox News that international sanctions have had no impact on the Iranian regime • Given leaks at White House, Rumsfeld says he would not notify U.S. of Iran plans if he were in the Israeli government.

In a twist of fate (and an old anecdote) Obama will soon be crying “if only I hadn’t disrespected Bibi.” The president, filled with himself, thought he could bring Israel to heel by showing it the back door in 2010. But how swiftly the tables have turned. On the eve of our elections Obama needs Israel more than they need Obama. That old bond of trust between the two “allies” has gone and, as long as Obama’s occupying the White House, that’s the way it’s going to stay. But for Israel the situation brings clarity. Now they know what they need to do, when they need to do it, and that their fate is in their own hands. By virtue of Islamophilia, hubris and animus, Pharaoh Obama has made an historic mistake. He lost his ability to control the Jewish state.

JPOST, 08/02/2012Ahmadinejad: World forces must strive to annihilate IsraelIn Ramadan speech to ambassadors from Islamic countries, Iranian president says “horrible Zionist current” has been managing world affairs for 400 years, adds that liberating Palestine would solve all world problems.

Former Mossad chief’s statement to ‘NY Times’ comes as Netanyahu and Barak both warn time for sanctions, diplomacy is running out, amid speculation that an attack may take place before US elections in November.
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If you are an Israeli military planner planning a strike against Iran, Romney’s speech last night in Jerusalem– although reassuring – changed nothing. Looking at your calendar there are two dates circled in red: the date of America’s presidential election and the date of the presidential inauguration. The two and a half months in-between are simply labeled “no man’s land.” Locked away in your safe, or encrypted on your computer, is another document, “Iran’s nuclear timeline.”

Here’s your problem. The recommendation you’ve been asked to make can’t rely on predicting the future. The fate ofIsrael and the Jewish people is too important to be decided by speculation or a roll of the dice. The only factors that count are the bitter experiences of history – including the last three and one-half years of Barack Hussein Obama’s reign.

Still, you find it tempting to daydream “what if” based on the outcome of America’s election. If Obama wins, Pharaoh’s heart is not going to be softened. Israel can expect the man to double his efforts to back Israel into a corner and make it difficult-to-impossible for her to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat without help. After all, Obama would no longer need Jewish money.

If Romney wins on November 6th, there’s no telling what Obama might do while he runs the country in “no man’s land” unshackled with nothing to lose. Under those circumstances, the Ayatollahs will draw a similar conclusion and have every incentive to speed up the demons’ work freed of the bothersome ruse to keep it secret from the world. Moreover, if Israel chooses to hold off until Romney gets the keys to the Oval Office, and Romney wobbles for any reason, the “timeline” gets revised and now tells you by then it could be too late.

On the other hand, during the critical period before the election, which is where we are today, Obama is forced to bottle-up his bile. While he needs Jewish votes and gelt, his hands are tied until November 7th. By the process of elimination, that makes our military planner’s recommendation much clearer. The time to go is between now and then.

Not many people keep an eye on the police docket in Israel, but I do – mainly because so many Israelis have told me that elements in Israel’s internal security apparatus (Shin Bet) are charged with manufacturing “provocations” by “settlers” in Judea and Samaria. There’s no better proof of this than the outcome of these cases once the accused are brought before an Israeli court. There’s almost never enough evidence to back up the charges and the suspects go free. Here’s a recent example. As long as Israel’s secret police maintains its notorious Jewish section, it won’t be the last.

The gap is widening between the decrepit Jewish-American left and the ever-stronger Jewish State of Israel. That in turn has allowed a certain amount of fear and hysteria to spread among the usual gang of wealthy Jewish buttinskies and kibitzers. With their (exaggerated) influence over Israel waning, the moneyed Jewish elites are now frantically trying to regroup and consolidate to make themselves appear powerful. Et voila!, their newest Potemkin organization. Letterhead, office space, Rolodex and website provided courtesy of the empty suits and their chump change.

“That despite their money and the organizations that they create; the victory in Israel’s range war will not go to the billionaire on Wall Street, but the farmers and herders of Judea.”

By Daniel Greenfield

Anyone who has watched enough monster movies knows how hard it is to kill the monster. You can set Frankenstein on fire, stab Dracula through the chest with a wooden stake and take the Wolfman to the vet; but sooner or later they come roaring back twice as angry as ever.

The Israel Policy Forum, a left-wing group, which mated a few years ago with the Center for American Progress, has split away again to corner that booming market in Jewish organizations that hate Israel; but try to pretend not to when people are watching.

With J Street, Jewish Voice for Peace, Open Zion, Uri L’Tzedek and Americans for Peace Now, just to name a few, all boasting more column inches in the media than members, the revival of IPF is about as timely as opening up a bank dedicated to subprime loans. The market for Israel-bashing, like the market for underwater homes, is falling as fast as Obama’s approval ratings.

BHO’s BFF, Egypt’s Islamist President Morsi, has been invited to the White House in September to break pita and enjoy a nice Halal dinner with America’s Islamistophile President Obama. Morsi’s visit should be interesting on a few counts. A lot of Egyptian history will be created from now until September and you can bet not all of it will be pleasant. Morsi is already involved in a power struggle with the courts and the military. If Morsi arrives in D.C. with trouble at home following in his wake, it could remind Americans what a debacle Obama’s foreign policy has been for our country and our friends in the Middle East. Then too, Obama is taking another risk. In his inauguration speech before tens of thousands in Cairo, Morsi declared publicly that he wants the Blind Terrorist, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, released from U.S. custody. He is certain to bring that up when he meets Obama. Obama’s handling of the situation will be watched closely by the American Jewish community, and whatever the outcome, it’s sure to invite comparison with the cold shoulder and short shrift he gave Shimon Peres’s request for Jonathan Pollard’s release.

That’s at least two traps Obama’s preternatural Islamophilia has laid for him. As we approach November we’ll see if he falls into both or either one.

It’s a healthy sign when prominent and articulate Zionists rise to challengeliberal double-agents like Alan Dershowitz, Thomas Friedman and Peter Beinart. Still, it’s a mistake to think the fate of Israel will turn on debates, op-eds or gentlemanly rebuttals concerning the fine points of international law. As Yitzhak Shamir observed and Netanyahu acknowledged while eulogizing him, “the Arabs are the same Arabs” and, being Muslims too, they’ll never reconcile themselves to a Jewish state in their midst. And in an ironic twist, it’s that feral hatred for the Jews that more than anything keeps Israel honest. After twenty years of Oslo most Israelis will tell you they’ve finally had it up to here with “peace” and its hucksters. For the foreseeable future, and probably beyond, the best Israel can expect to do is keep getting more powerful, more prosperous and more Jewish, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that she is a permanent fixture at her current address and that it would be foolhardy and much too costly to try and evict her. Dayenu!

Perhaps then, and only then, will Israel reach a modus vivendi with her neighbors. The great Jabotinsky put it this way: “As long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us, they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter, because they are not a rabble, but a living people” And that dear friend was written in … 1923!

It has been my observation that no sooner does St. Thomas Friedman (no relation, thank G-d) offer a prognostication about Israel, then the exact opposite occurs. If you could short his predictions on Wall Street, you’d be a rich(er) man.

Since his turn-your-back-on-Israel tantrum already bombed in Peoria, the man with the funny little mustache is grasping at a new straw. Now he’s talking about the allegedly irenic effects the rise of the Muslim Bros. in Egypt will have on relations with Israel. Give the guy credit, he’s got a wild imagination and he’s not afraid to be wrong or look stupid. But now that Friedman has spoken, I have an urgent message for any Israelis who are listening: Battle stations everyone!

In the diplomacy/policy racket nothing succeeds like failure. That’s the only way to account for how Dennis Ross keeps his career alive. Staying just one step ahead of his last “peace process” bomb, Ross avoids becoming a victim of his own collateral damage. And then he emerges from the debris bearing another stupid idea he can ride into the ground. But not before he’s earned another six months of royalties and speaking fees.

In its June 11, 2012 editorial, the Sobh-e Sadeq weekly, which is the organ of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), attempts to persuade U.S. President Barack Obama that recognizing Iran’s nuclear rights at the upcoming nuclear talks in Moscow, June 18-19, will get him reelected. The editorial, headlined “The Importance of the Moscow Conference for Iran and Obama,” states that Obama has an opportunity to turn the Moscow talks into a springboard to victory in November. Warning that it is Obama’s time that is running out, not Iran’s, it adds that if he does not promote recognition of Iran’s nuclear rights at the Moscow talks – what the paper calls “a win-win” for both sides – Tehran will simply bide its time and wait for his successor.

Must be a few people out there who still cling to the illusion of an Arab Spring – most if not all, members of the white shoe diplomatic class. But this BBC reportout of Egypt today will undoubtedly shrink their ranks. Egypt’s Supreme Court has just invalidated last year’s elections and declared that the Islamist-dominated Parliament it produced has to be dissolved. At the same time, the Court ruled that the presidential election – pitting a Muslim Brotherhood member against Mubarak’s last prime minister – can go ahead as planned. I’m willing to wager that if the Brotherhood’s man wins that election some arm of the Egyptian government’s apparatus will put the kibosh on that too.

Cut to my crystal ball. The army is still pulling the strings, Egypt’s revolutionaries will be back in the streets, and Mr. Mubarak will die with a broad grin on his face.

Israeli officials who were placed at risk by the Obama administration’s leaks about the Stuxnet virus are disputing American claims that the cyber-weapon was jointly developed by the U.S. and Israel. Rather, they say, Israeli intelligence first started developing cyberspace warfare against Iran, only convincing the U.S.–with some difficulty–to join in. The Israelis allege that President Barack Obama claimed credit for Stuxnet to boost his re-election campaign.

The Israeli officials actually told me a different version. They said that it was Israeli intelligence that began, a few years earlier, a cyberspace campaign to damage and slow down Iran’s nuclear intentions. And only later they managed to convince the USA to consider a joint operation — which, at the time, was unheard of. Even friendly nations are hesitant to share their technological and intelligence resources against a common enemy…

Yet my Israeli sources understand the sensitivity and the timing of the issue and are not going to be dragged into a battle over taking credit. “We know that it is the presidential election season,” one Israeli added, ”and don’t want to spoil the party for President Obama and his officials, who shared in a twisted and manipulated way some of the behind-the-scenes secrets of the success of cyberwar.”

The Obama administration’s pattern of leaks to mainstream media outlets–of which the Stuxnet virus is only one example–prompted bipartisan outrage from Congress and the appointment of two special prosecutors. While the leaks jeopardized U.S. national security–allegedly for the political purpose of burnishing President Obama’s image as commander-in-chief–they may also have been exaggerated, if the new reports from Israel are accurate.

By the end of the year we will see the Iran-Israel-USA kabuki play reach its climax. While Obama has succeeded to convince America’s pliant liberal Jews that he’s “got Israel’s back,” he hasn’t yet convinced the Jews whose backs are actually against the wall. Of course, all the drama could have been avoided if only Obama had controlled his baser anti-Zionist instincts early on. But Obama is Obama and that would make Obama a different man.

“It seems that in the current circumstances, the bottom line is that Israel will find it hard to respond favorably to the suggestion/demand by President Obama’s administration to place its trust in America’s resolve to prevent a nuclear Iran and not act on its own.”

(CBS News) — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday blasted the Obama administration over the disclosure of classified intelligence operations, leaks he said came from the “highest levels” at the White House.